On March 13, 2010, delegates from 175 countries will take part in the 15th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) in Doha, Qatar. They will consider dozens of proposals concerning international protection of imperilled species – including dangerous petitions from Tanzania and Zambia to sell more than one hundred thousand kilograms of elephant ivory and to decrease protections for elephants those countries.

Please send the e-mail form at the bottom of this page! Help ensure that the United States government votes against these proposals and that the U.S. CITES delegation actively lobbies against any trade in ivory.

Sales of “legal” stockpiles have been authorized by CITES on two prior occasions, and both times the result was an upsurge in poaching. Even elephants in relatively protected areas such as the Amboseli National Park in Kenya have come under attack - poaching threatens to decimate its famous elephant population. (Thanks to your support, last year IDA was able to help fund anti-poaching patrols critical to protecting elephants in Amboseli.)

An estimated 38,000 African elephants are killed each year for their tusks. Another CITES-approved sale will devastate the remaining elephants by triggering an increase in demand and sending even more illegal ivory into markets abroad, particularly in the Far East, pushing elephants closer to extinction.

The global ivory trade threatened to wipe out Africa’s elephants in the 1970s and 1980s, reducing the continent’s population of elephants by half – from an estimated 1.3 million to fewer than 600,000 individuals – before a ban on ivory sales in 1989. Now the world’s largest land animals are again faced with widespread slaughter, spurred by greed and the sale of “legal” ivory, and we need your help to stop it.

Please submit the form below to urge the U.S. government to protect Africa’s elephants with a “no” vote on the ivory sale proposals by Tanzania and Zambia and the rejection of any weakening of protections for elephants in these countries.

"With all we are facing in our own country, it would be easy to forget about issues beyond our own borders. However, I strongly believe that opposing the sale of ivory is as important as any other issue we face. The more scientists learn about the elephant, the clearer it becomes that they are intelligent, sentient beings that live in family units and love and grieve much as we do. And we will, as a species, regret the harm we are inflicting on them with the ivory trade. I am contacting you out of concern for the future of Africa's elephants.

I implore you, do everything you can to abolish the ivory trade, and encourage everyone you come in contact with to do the same.

Thank you for your consideration in this grave and important matter."

Stop the Slaughter of Elephants for Ivory Urge U.S. government to oppose ivory sale at upcoming CITES meeting.

On March 13, 2010, delegates from 175 countries will take part in the 15th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) in Doha, Qatar. They will consider dozens of proposals concerning international protection of imperilled species – including dangerous petitions from Tanzania and Zambia to sell more than one hundred thousand kilograms of elephant ivory and to decrease protections for elephants those countries.

Please send the e-mail form at the bottom of this page! Help ensure that the United States government votes against these proposals and that the U.S. CITES delegation actively lobbies against any trade in ivory.

Sales of “legal” stockpiles have been authorized by CITES on two prior occasions, and both times the result was an upsurge in poaching. Even elephants in relatively protected areas such as the Amboseli National Park in Kenya have come under attack - poaching threatens to decimate its famous elephant population. (Thanks to your support, last year IDA was able to help fund anti-poaching patrols critical to protecting elephants in Amboseli.)

An estimated 38,000 African elephants are killed each year for their tusks. Another CITES-approved sale will devastate the remaining elephants by triggering an increase in demand and sending even more illegal ivory into markets abroad, particularly in the Far East, pushing elephants closer to extinction.

The global ivory trade threatened to wipe out Africa’s elephants in the 1970s and 1980s, reducing the continent’s population of elephants by half – from an estimated 1.3 million to fewer than 600,000 individuals – before a ban on ivory sales in 1989. Now the world’s largest land animals are again faced with widespread slaughter, spurred by greed and the sale of “legal” ivory, and we need your help to stop it.

Please submit the form below to urge the U.S. government to protect Africa’s elephants with a “no” vote on the ivory sale proposals by Tanzania and Zambia and the rejection of any weakening of protections for elephants in these countries.

"With all we are facing in our own country, it would be easy to forget about issues beyond our own borders. However, I strongly believe that opposing the sale of ivory is as important as any other issue we face. The more scientists learn about the elephant, the clearer it becomes that they are intelligent, sentient beings that live in family units and love and grieve much as we do. And we will, as a species, regret the harm we are inflicting on them with the ivory trade. I am contacting you out of concern for the future of Africa's elephants.

I implore you, do everything you can to abolish the ivory trade, and encourage everyone you come in contact with to do the same.